I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1272 

To provide for the use and distribution of the funds awarded to the Minnesota 

Chippewa Tribe, et al, by the United States Court of Federal Claims 

in Docket Numbers 19 and 188, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 30, 2011 

Mr. PETERSON (for himself and Mr. CRAVAACK) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To provide for the use and distribution of the funds awarded 

to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, et al, by the United 

States Court of Federal Claims in Docket Numbers 19 

and 188, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Minnesota Chippewa 

5 Tribe Judgment Fund Distribution Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) On January 22, 1948, the Minnesota Chip2 pewa Tribe, representing all Chippewa bands in Min3 nesota except the Red Lake Band, filed a claim be4 fore the Indian Claims Commission in Docket No. 

5 19 for an accounting of all funds received and ex6 pended pursuant to the Act of January 14, 1889, 25 

7 Stat. 642, and amendatory acts (hereinafter referred 

8 to as the Nelson Act). 

9 (2) On August 2, 1951, the Minnesota Chip10 pewa Tribe, representing all Chippewa bands in Min11 nesota except the Red Lake Band, filed a number of 

12 claims before the Indian Claims Commission in 

13 Docket No. 188 for an accounting of the Govern14 ment’s obligation to each of the member bands of 

15 the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe under various stat16 utes and treaties that are not covered by the Nelson 

17 Act of January 14, 1889. 

18 (3) On May 17, 1999, a Joint Motion for Find19 ings in Aid of Settlement of the claims in Docket 

20 No. 19 and 188 was filed before the Court. 

21 (4) The terms of the settlement were approved 

22 by the Court and the final judgment was entered on 

23 May 26, 1999. 

24 (5) On June 22, 1999, $20,000,000 was trans25 ferred to the Department of the Interior and deposVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:18 Apr 01, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1272.IH H1272

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1 ited into a trust fund account established for the 

2 beneficiaries of the funds awarded in Docket No. 19 

3 and 188. 

4 (6) Pursuant to the Indian Tribal Judgment 

5 Funds Use or Distribution Act (25 U.S.C. 1401 et 

6 seq.), Congress must act to authorize the use or dis7 tribution of the judgment funds. 

8 (7) On October 1, 2009, the Minnesota Chip9 pewa Tribal Executive Committee passed Resolution 

10 146–09, approving a plan to distribute the judgment 

11 funds and requesting that the United States Con12 gress act to distribute the judgment funds in the 

13 manner described by the plan. 

14 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

15 For the purpose of this Act: 

16 (1) AVAILABLE FUNDS.—The term ‘‘available 

17 funds’’ means the funds awarded to the Minnesota 

18 Chippewa Tribe and interest earned and received on 

19 those funds, less the funds used for payments au20 thorized under section 4. 

21 (2) BANDS.—The term ‘‘Bands’’ means the 

22 Bois Forte Band, Fond du Lac Band, Grand Por23 tage Band, Leech Lake Band, Mille Lacs Band, and 

24 White Earth Band. 


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1 (3) JUDGMENT FUNDS.—The term ‘‘judgment 

2 funds’’ means the funds awarded on May 26, 1999, 

3 to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe by the Court of 

4 Federal Claims in Docket No. 19 and 188. 

5 (4) MINNESOTA CHIPPEWA TRIBE.—The term 

6 ‘‘Minnesota Chippewa Tribe’’ means the Minnesota 

7 Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota, composed of the Bois 

8 Forte Band, Fond du Lac Band, Grand Portage 

9 Band, Leech Lake Band, Mille Lacs Band, and 

10 White Earth Band. It does not include Red Lake 

11 Band of Chippewa Indians, Minnesota. 

12 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

13 the Secretary of the Interior. 

14 SEC. 4. LOAN REIMBURSEMENTS TO MINNESOTA CHIP15 PEWA TRIBE. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized to re17 imburse the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe the amount of 

18 funds, plus interest earned to the date of reimbursement, 

19 that the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe contributed for pay20 ment of attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses associated 

21 with the litigation of Docket No. 19 and 188 before the 

22 U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the distribution of judg23 ment funds. 

24 (b) CLAIMS.—The Minnesota Chippewa Tribe’s claim 

25 for reimbursement of funds expended shall be— 


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1 (1) presented to the Secretary not later than 90 

2 days after the date of enactment of this Act; 

3 (2) certified by the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe 

4 as being unreimbursed to the Minnesota Chippewa 

5 Tribe from other funding sources; 

6 (3) paid with interest calculated at the rate of 

7 6.0 percent per annum, simple interest, from the 

8 date the funds were expended to the date the funds 

9 are reimbursed to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe; 

10 and 

11 (4) paid from the judgment funds prior to the 

12 division of the funds under section 5. 

13 SEC. 5. DIVISION OF JUDGMENT FUNDS. 

14 (a) MEMBERSHIP ROLLS.—Not later than 90 days 

15 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Minnesota 

16 Chippewa Tribe shall submit to the Secretary updated 

17 membership rolls for each Band which shall include all en18 rolled members living on the date of enectment of this Act. 

19 (b) DIVISIONS.—After all funds have been reim20 bursed under section 4, and the membership rolls have 

21 been updated, the Secretary shall— 

22 (1) set aside for each Band a portion of the 

23 available judgment funds equivalent to $300 for 

24 each member enrolled within each Band; and 


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1 (2) after the funds are divided in accordance 

2 with paragraph (1), divide 100 percent of the funds 

3 remaining into equal shares for each Band. 

4 (c) SEPARATE ACCOUNTS.—The Secretary shall— 

5 (1) deposit all funds described in subsection 

6 (b)(1) into a ‘‘Per Capita’’ account for each Band; 

7 and 

8 (2) deposit all funds described in subsection 

9 (b)(2) into an ‘‘Equal Shares’’ account for each 

10 Band. 

11 (d) WITHDRAWL OF FUNDS.—After the Secretary de12 posits the available funds into the accounts described in 

13 subsection (c), a Band may withdraw all or part of the 

14 monies in its account. 

15 (e) DISBURSEMENT OF PER CAPITA PAYMENTS.—All 

16 funds described in subsection (b)(1) shall be used by each 

17 Band only for the purposes of distributing one $300 pay18 ment to each individual member of the Band. Each Band 

19 may— 

20 (1) distribute an additional $300 to the parents 

21 or legal guardians for each dependent Band member 

22 instead of distributing $300 payments to the de23 pendent Band members themselves; or 

24 (2) deposit into a trust account the $300 pay25 ments of each dependent Band member for the benVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:18 Apr 01, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1272.IH H1272

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1 efit of such dependent Band members, such funds to 

2 be distributed under the terms of said trust. 

3 (f) DISTRIBUTION OF UNCLAIMED PAYMENTS.—One 

4 year after the funds described in subsection (b)(1) are 

5 made available to the Bands, all unclaimed payments de6 scribed in subsection (e) shall be returned to the Sec7 retary, who shall divide these funds into equal shares for 

8 each Band, and deposit the divided shares into the ac9 counts described in subsection (c)(2) for the use of each 

10 Band. 

11 (g) LIABILITY.—If a Band exercises the right to 

12 withdraw monies from its accounts, the Secretary shall not 

13 retain liability for the expenditure or investment of the 

14 monies after they are withdrawn. 

15 SEC. 6. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

16 (a) PREVIOUS OBLIGATIONS.—Funds disbursed 

17 under this Act shall not be liable for the payment of pre18 viously contracted obligations of any recipient as provided 

19 in Public Law 98–64 (25 U.S.C. 117b(a)). 

20 (b) INDIAN JUDGMENT FUNDS DISTRIBUTION

21 ACT.—All funds distributed under this Act are subject to 

22 the provisions in the Indian Judgment Funds Distribution 

23 Act (25 U.S.C. 1407). 

Æ 


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